RT* folks at Nats
 

Howard Duncan has agreed to hold an informal chat about the Road Tire classes on Thursday. This will be a good opportunity to hear his thoughts on where the class is going, and also for us to share our impressions with him and at least one member of the SEB.

We’ll be meeting in the Gumout information tent by the food vendors at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

If you're an RT entrant or would-be RT entrant, this is a great chance to give input directly to the folks who make decisions rather than posting on an Internet message board.

Even if you're not at Nats but want us to pass info/questions to Howard, send me a message and I'll pass it along.

Thanks/Des Toups RTR #166

Thanks for the heads up. I'll try to make it along with my co-driver.


Tom Reynolds #76 RT and 176 RTA

I'll swing by as well. I really like the idea of the RT classes and think it should have been done a long time ago.

I'd like to see an RT class for each stock category rather than lumping into FWD, RWD, AWD based on PAX. If that comes up, that is my preference/opinion.

We regularly have 20-30 RTR entries at each event in my region which is great. On the other hand, if it gets siphoned to each stock category I may only be up against 5-8 cars locally which is not as fun... catch-22 I guess.

Personally I like the idea of less classes and lumping based on drivetrain with an index multiplier.

I like how RT has it set up for Tours... I think Pros are silly putting all of RT into one class.

I think it'd be cool to have Stock and SP formatted the same way...
Stock FWD, Stock RWD, Stock AWD
SP FWD, SP RWD, SP AWD

That just did what?... 9+7... 16 classes down to 6 and removed a lot of the weather parody with AWD cars.... yea, sold.

Now if only Rick Ruth attended most of my local events so i could badger him about my PAX...

FWIW, RR really doesn't get swayed much. He pretty much just tells us to f*** ourselves semi-politely :) (I love me some RR, so no offense meant)

Had no idea you picked one up Des! Good luck in Nebraska! Wish I could make it this year, but work has gotten in the way. Looking forward to hearing the direction these cars are going with regard to RT. On the fence between RT and ST right now.

Give em hell!

Sean

good luck everyone that is competing.. Wish I were there with you...Next year for sure..Make us proud..;)

Bill

ProSolo Finale bright and early. So far there are two BRZ owners I know of in it in RT (but running WRXs). Myself and Wayne S.

My trek starts in 17 hours.. leaving at 3 am local time :(

Not sure who reads this that attended the SEB Town Hall today at Nationals. Surprisingly they were ready to talk about RT and made a statement it sounded like many of us had never heard before. More or less the statement was "RT is a supplemental class that is a two year experiment to validate interest in making stock class switch from race tires to street tires." Others made statements about their solid interest in keeping road tire alive somehow be it as stock or in its own class. I was the guy at the end of that asking why 180 vs 140 when they could have simply used the exclusion list. It was interesting they stated 180 because a few organizations already use that number. Unfortunately for me, I had never heard of ANY of them. They did know about NASA but did not seem to know PCA used 140. I believe BMWCCA and CCA use 140 as well. Thursday is set to be the stage to discuss with Howard on this further but I think it's good to know this background. I personally how RT survives somehow as I'm enjoying this season as much as any other I've had and spent a lot less money to do it. I attended 3 ProSolos in RT including the finale and one Tour in RTA and will do Nats later this week in RTA.

I have been considering RT as a bridge that will allow me to run the FRS with limited tweaks until I get done with two other race car projects and then move the FRS over the ST when I free up the budget. What tire choices are there in the 180 tread wear range though? I want RS3'S. Why spend the money on the Hankooks if all they would be is a great track day tire though. Is the SCCA missing the boat yet again? All the tire choices in the world in the 140 range at reasonable prices. Why not just go there instead of yet again costing its members needlessly?

They made it clear they want a lower performance level as the goal to completely avoid how we got to race tires in stock in the first place 15+ years ago.

The Hankook is hardly the only game in town. The RS3 and R1R are clearly the tires they were trying to avoid. This still leaves, IMO, three good tires. Dunlop Star Specs (my choice), Yokohama AD08s, and Michelin Pilot Super Sports. The Star Specs are VERY affordable in 86's sizes.

I've got Star Specs on my Merc and they don't suck, but they are no RS3, LOL. Not sure where I'll be running the FRS next year, but I'm damn sure getting to some Pros with it!